The No. 1 seed Bossier Bearkats advanced to the Class 3A quarterfinals with a 53-35 victory over No. 17 Crowley on Tuesday night in Crowley.
Bossier (33-3) will host No. 9 Richwood (24-9) Friday night. The Rams defeated No. 8 Patterson 71-65 Tuesday.
In a Class 1A second-round game, No. 16 Plain Dealing fell to No. 1 North Central 83-47 in Washington. The Lions, who trailed by just four at the half, closed a solid season under first-year head coach Sean Koeppen 12-15.
Bossier head coach Nick Bohanan admitted it’s been tough adjusting to playing without 6-foot-7 D’Ante Bell in the first two playoff games. Bell suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Bearkats’ regular-season finale against Neville.
“Not only was he a scorer and a mismatch offensively, losing him was losing 12 rebounds a game, just all the attention that he draws on the offensive end, four blocked shots,” Bohanan said. “By committee we’re trying to piece it together as best as we can.”
Bohanan said James Davis, a first-team All-Parish running back and defensive back, has stepped up in Bell’s absence. He had 11 rebounds Tuesday after grabbing 10 in the first-round victory over Grant.
“He’s doing his part to pick it up,” he said.
Senior guard Cody Deen definitely did his part against Crowley (21-9).
He scored 26 points, about 11 above his team-leading season average.
He had 13 in each half. Deen really came through in the fourth quarter, scoring nine points. He was 5-of-6 from the line in the period.
Freshman Lakavin Thomas scored all nine of his points in the second half, including five in the fourth.
They and their teammates had to step up after Tim King, the team’s second-leading scorer on the season, fouled out with about 6:30 left. Cinco Bryant followed him to the bench about two minutes later.
Thanks to another outstanding defensive effort, Bossier had a comfortable 38-19 lead after three quarters. Crowley managed to get as close as 13 with 3:07 left, but the Bearkats pulled away.
“We had to lean on some guys we haven’t leaned on this year,” Bohanan said. “I was already a little short-handed but I had some young guys step in and close the game out. They stepped up when they were called on. That’s about all I can ask.”
The game started similarly to the first-round game against Grant. Bossier led 7-2 after the first quarter. King picked up two fouls in the first four minutes.
Even so, the Bearkats extended the lead to 23-8 at the half.
“We just tried to get after it defensively and give ourselves a chance, trying to get to the second half where we turned up that pressure a little bit,” Bohanan said.
King and Bryant finished with six points apiece and Davis had five.
At Washington, Plain Dealing gave North Central all it wanted in the first half and trailed 32-28. But the second half belonged to the Hurricanes (24-7).
Plain Dealing junior Darrien Perry completed an outstanding junior season with 18 points. Tre Boyd added 11. Cedarius Johnson and Ladarious O’Neal scored eight each.
O’Neal and Ken Gay were the only seniors on the team.
